The MRI on RHP Ivan Nova last night has revealed a partial tear of ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow. He will be placed on the disabled list today and will be further examined tomorrow in New York by Yankees team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad.

A torn UCL (even a partially-torn one) pretty much always leads to Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery, which would sideline Nova through the early part of the 2015 season. He posted an impressive 3.10 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 139 1/3 innings last summer for the Yankees but had surrendered 32 hits and 19 earned runs in 20 2/3 frames this year.

From a personal standpoint, I wish Nova a speedy recovery. From a team/pitching standpoint, yes it is a loss, but with the way the rest of the staff is pitching, yanks should be okay with either Nuno or Phelps stepping in. Tanaka and Pineda will shift up one spot and whoever replaces Nova becomes the number 5 starter, which I think Nuno or Phelps can handle.

This was Beaver Baseball in 2013. I know the feeling. Go for a walk in the sunshine and remind yourself that your boys have the resources to rebuild that rotation from the Tigers, with Scherzer and The Rays, with Price. Also, your IF D will vastly improve next season sans Jeter and the likely return of a fully armed and operational Death St…I mean Alex Rodriguez. Heck, with The Empire’s resources they might be able to re-build mid-season.

About a week ago Cashman confirmed that ownership was tapped out on money, so who knows what’s going to happen now. Brett Marshall, who was just called up, is really the only one stretched out enough to give them the 180 IP they’ll need this year, and that’s not even considering what’s going to happen to Tanaka and/or Pineda if they hit a wall in Aug/Sept, or Kuroda does too…

cur'68 - Apr 20, 2014 at 1:44 PM

Uh…oh. Well. There’s a thing. I can barely comprehend a universe where The Empire is at max spending. I don’t like the idea of an enfeebled Empire. Every great hero needs an equally great villain and all that. The notion of The Empire playing for a draft pick is also going to be hard to wrap my increasingly wooly head around.

Chin up, mate. Pineda ad Tanaka are young guys and they have a lot to prove. So far they’ve been up to the job. Sabbathia and Kuroda are as wily as they come so they can limit damage. I’m not counting your boys out of this just yet.

It’s “eating some innings”, a strategy usually reserved for bottom-of-the-barrel teams, only for top and faux top teams like the Yankees, it’s called “saving the bullpen”.

All this “we’ll be just fine” talk from Yankee fans sure sounds like whistling past the graveyard. As far as I can tell, when it comes to starting pitching depth, this team and organization has NOTHING.

Now if only this were the NBA and there was a lottery, David Stern could rig it to “miraculously” give the Yankees the top pick next year.

All this “we’ll be just fine” talk from Yankee fans sure sounds like whistling past the graveyard. As far as I can tell, when it comes to starting pitching depth, this team and organization has NOTHING.

And what scouting organization do you work for? I also don’t see anyone saying they’ll be fine. IN fact, I said the exact opposite above. But I guess that refutes your rant…

Ok so Nunez who did great yesterday and did great filling in for Andy last season and Phelps who has rotation experience as well are both nothing according to maz here. I mean there is just no way either one of them can fit in behind Tanka, Pineda, CC, and Kuroda. Just noway can that work out, lol what a tool

bigjimatch - Apr 20, 2014 at 7:10 PM

I thought only Joe Torre ruined pitchers. Weren’t the J.O.B.A. Rules supposed to eliminate these problems.